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Reading in a Foreign Language
ISSN 1539-0578
October 2014, Volume 26, No. 2
pp. 17–33
Reading rate gains during a one-semester extensive reading course
Jeffrey Huffman
St. Luke’s International University
Japan
Abstract
Extensive reading (ER) is an effective way to provide large amounts of comprehensible
input to foreign language learners, but many teachers and administrators remain
unconvinced, and it has been argued that there is still insufficient evidence to support the
claims that have been made regarding its benefits. Few studies have looked at ER’s effect
on reading fluency. This article reports on an investigation of the reading rate gains of
Japanese nursing college freshmen during a one-semester ER course, with students in an
intensive reading (IR) course serving as the comparison group (N = 66). The ER group
achieved significantly higher reading rate gains (20.73 wpm) than the IR group (-.62
wpm), without sacrificing comprehension. These results add to a growing body of
empirical evidence of the effectiveness of ER.
Keywords: reading; extensive reading, reading fluency, reading rate, reading speed, EFL/ESL
reading, second language reading
Reading is perhaps the most important language skill for students learning English as a foreign
language (EFL) or second language (ESL) in academic contexts (Grabe, 1991). Given its
importance, it is unfortunate that in so many EFL settings around the world, teachers and
administrators remain so heavily invested in grammar-translation and other methods that involve
using reading as a route to form-focused grammar and vocabulary learning, to the exclusion or
near-exclusion of developing fluent reading skills. As shown below, reading comprehension,
fluency development, and enjoyment and confidence in reading go hand in hand and must be
built up together through practice over time. The development of strong reading skills requires,
for many low-proficiency learners in EFL contexts, the breaking of a downward spiral in which
low fluency and comprehension lead to lack of enjoyment, which leads to less reading, which
ensures that comprehension and fluency will remain low (Nuttall, 2005; Stanovich, 2000). For
precisely these reasons, extensive reading has received attention from growing numbers of
teachers and researchers, particularly since the 1990s (Grabe, 2009). Day and Bamford (1998)
proposed that “students’ initial successful experiences in extensive reading result in the
discovery that they can read in the second language (L2) and that is rewarding and pleasurable.
This stimulates the development of positive attitudes toward reading, ...and these positive
beginning experiences then feed back into subsequent extensive reading experiences...” (p. 30).
Why is there still resistance to implementing extensive reading programs? It might be that, as
http://nflrc.hawaii.edu/rfl
Huffman: Reading rate gains
18
Grabe (2009) has suggested, “teachers are not prepared to radically rethink how reading should
be taught and learned,” or that “administrators and teachers are uncomfortable with teachers not
teaching, and students not preparing, for high-stakes exams” (p. 312). However, another likely
reason is that reading instruction methods that emphasize fluency, such as extensive reading, are
still largely viewed as new, untested approaches. Teachers may also worry that reading rate and
fluency increases may not be accompanied by improvement in reading comprehension. To
remedy that situation, further research to clarify and provide empirical evidence of the benefits
of extensive reading is needed.
Reading fluency refers to the ability to read words and process text rapidly and accurately and
with good expression and prosody (Adams, 1994; Grabe, 2009; Nathan & Stanovich, 1991;
Pressley, 2006). However, this definition assumes that oral reading fluency is an exact indicator
of silent reading fluency, and this may not be true for EFL learners. Such learners may be able to
read silently with a certain degree of fluency and comprehend the text but still be unable to
perform well on oral reading fluency measures due to an inability to recode the words orally
(Lems, 2006; Jeon, 2012). For this reason, the current study uses silent reading rate (with
adequate comprehension) as a proxy for silent reading fluency.
Rather than simply being a sign of comprehension, research shows that improved fluency
promotes improved comprehension (Breznitz, 1988; De Soto & De Soto, 1983; Jeon, 2012;
Lems, 2006; Nathan & Stanovich, 1991). It should therefore be seen as a primary goal of any
comprehensive reading education program. Extensive reading is a practical way to implement
this goal, so it is imperative that the effect of extensive reading on reading fluency development
be clarified and empirically demonstrated.
Literature Review
Extensive Reading
In their book on the subject, Day and Bamford (1998) laid out a set of characteristics of
extensive reading. These include having students self-select from a wide variety of enjoyable
reading material which is written well within their ability level, having them read extensively but
individually and orienting them to the goals of extensive reading, including an emphasis on
reading speed, and encouraging them to read for pleasure or information rather than for
vocabulary and grammar learning purposes.
A great deal of research on extensive reading has been conducted in the past three decades, with
tentatively positive results in the areas of incidental vocabulary acquisition (Day, Omura, &
Hiramatsu, 1991; Dupuy & Krashen, 1993; Hayashi, 1999; Horst, 2005; Mason & Krashen, 1997;
Nagy, Herman, & Anderson, 1985; Pitts, White, & Krashen, 1989; Saragi, Nation, & Meister,
1978; Waring & Takaki, 2003) and affect (Mori, 2004; Nishino, 2007; Robb & Susser, 1989;
Stoeckel, Reagan, & Hann, 2012; Yang, 2001) as well as general reading proficiency (Elley,
1991; Elley & Mangubhai, 1983; Mason & Krashen, 1997; Tudor & Hafiz, 1989). Another likely
benefit of extensive reading is in the area of improved reading fluency. Fluency can be thought
of as the ability to read rapidly while accurately comprehending the text. However, while many
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studies on the benefits of extensive reading have reported increased comprehension ability (Elley,
1991; Homan, Klesius, & Hite, 1993; Pichette, 2005; Tanaka & Stapleton, 2007), there have
been surprisingly few well-designed empirical studies which measure and report reading rate
changes as an indicator of fluency development (Beglar, Hunt, & Kite, 2012; Grabe, 2009).
Examples of this small but growing body of research are reviewed in a later section of this paper.
Reading Fluency
There is consensus, from Sir Edmond Huey in 1908 to the seminal modern work by LaBerge and
Samuels (1974) and nearly every expert on the subject since, for the notion that reading fluency
consists of component subskills, such as decoding, word recognition, phonological
representation, and syntactic and semantic parsing or chunking, which are gradually automatized
and unitized so that the reader’s attentional resources can focus on the higher level processes of
comprehension, analysis, and interpretation (Adams, 1994; Grabe, 2009; Kuhn & Stahl, 2003;
LaBerge & Samuels, 1974; Nathan & Stanovich, 1991; Pikulski & Chard, 2005; Wolf & KatzirCohen, 2001). LaBerge and Samuels (1974) argued that, “if each component process requires
attention, performance of the complex skill will be impossible, because the capacity of attention
will be exceeded. But if enough of the components and their coordinations can be processed
automatically, then the load on attention will be within tolerable limits and the skill can be
successfully performed” (p. 293). Nathan and Stanovich (1991) described the phenomenon in
this way: “When processes of word recognition take little capacity (are fluent), most of the
reader’s cognitive capacity can be focused on comprehending the text, criticizing it, elaborating
on it, and reflecting on it—in short, doing all the things we know good readers do” (p. 176).
Similarly, Adams (1994) explained that, “to the extent that you are directing that attention to the
mechanics of the system, it is not available to support your understanding. Only if your ability to
recognize and capture the meanings of the words on a page is rapid, effortless, and automatic
will you have available the cognitive energy and resources upon which skillful comprehension
depends” (p. 5).
Concerning the specific component subskills of which fluent reading consists, there is more
variability among researchers. Wolf and Katzir-Cohen (2001) referred to “multiple components”
including sublexical decoding processes, phonological representation, lexical access and retrieval,
prosodic knowledge, and connected-text comprehension. Kuhn and Stahl (2003) settled on three
components: decoding, word recognition, and prosody. Grabe (2009) listed four sub-processes
essential to reading fluency: automaticity (defined as not requiring attentional resources,
unconscious, and not subject to interference or suppression), accuracy, rapid overall rate, and
recognition of prosodic phrasing or chunking.
The picture that emerges is that reading fluency development is much more than simply
increasing the speed or “smoothness” of reading. It is a complex, multifaceted phenomenon
involving the automatization of lower level processes and skills to free limited attentional
resources so that these resources can be employed toward comprehending the global message of
the text. It therefore follows that improved fluency should go hand in hand with improved
comprehension. Breznitz (1988) conducted research showing that “reading at a faster pace
increased comprehension and reduced errors” (p. 47). Her results indicated that the improved
comprehension was likely due to reduced distractability, because reading slowly allows too
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much opportunity for distracting stimuli to be introduced during the “empty time” between
words or sentences, while a reading rate that pushes the limits of readers’ attentional resources
leaves them with no spare processing capacity with which to register irrelevant stimuli. The
notion that fluency gains lead to comprehension gains has been confirmed in other studies as
well, such as De Soto and De Soto (1983) and Nathan and Stanovich (1991) with first language
(L1) learners and Jeon (2012) and Lems (2006) with ESL or EFL learners.
For the purposes of empirical research, fluency is often operationalized in terms of reading rate,
and in the L1 setting this is normally done by having participants engage in oral reading.
However, L1 children can read with great speed and accuracy and yet be unable to demonstrate
any real understanding of what they have read (Pressley, 2006). This is a serious drawback
because, as Pressley pointed out, “nobody should be interested in or promoting fast reading with
low comprehension” (p. 209). In the L2 context, on the other hand, it is unknown whether oral
reading is an appropriate way to measure reading fluency, given the extreme constraints of
pronunciation and intelligibility (Grabe, 2009; Lems, 2006). It may very well be that L2 readers
can read faster silently than orally. Given these considerations, fluency was measured in this
current study as silent reading rate, and comprehension of the text was also tested to ensure that
rate increases did not come at the expense of comprehension. This method is consistent with that
employed in one of the few well-designed empirical studies of the effect of extensive reading on
fluency in an EFL context to date, that of Beglar, Hunt, and Kite (2012).
If reading fluency improvement is to gain credence as an important educational goal in EFL
contexts, it is important to consider what sort of targets might be seen as ideal for readers. Carver
(1982) found that the most efficient rauding rate for college students reading L1 college-level
material was around 300 wpm; rauding refers to the fastest speed at which a reader can read easy
material at an adequate level of comprehension. Nuttall (2005) also reported that the average L1
reader reads at around 300 wpm, although there is a considerably wide range around that average
figure. Higgins and Wallace (1989) noted that 180 wpm is “generally agreed to be close to the
minimum at which reading becomes a pleasure” (p. 394) and that it may be “a threshold between
immature and mature reading” (p. 392). Beglar, Hunt, and Kite (2012) suggested that this
minimum L1 rate could be used as a reasonable goal for L2 readers in many contexts. Nuttall
(2005) noted that secondary school students in ESL countries (presumably meaning countries
where English is not the L1 but is used as the primary or exclusive language of education in all
subjects, as opposed to countries where subjects other than English are taught in the L1) read at
around 120 to 150 wpm before training.
Previous Studies on L2 Reading Rate Gains through Extensive Reading
As previously mentioned, few studies have conclusively and empirically demonstrated the
effectiveness of extensive reading in improving reading fluency in L2 settings. Some of the
previous related studies are briefly summarized in this section, along with a discussion of their
strengths and weaknesses.
Robb and Susser’s (1989) investigation of extensive reading vs. intensive reading in intact yearlong university classes in Japan included a pre- and post-treatment measurement of reading
speed for both groups. Although the two measurements were not equivalent, the extensive
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reading group (ER group) read significantly faster than the intensive reading group (IR group)
post-treatment (86.55 vs. 76.75 wpm), while there was no significant difference between the two
groups pre-treatment. The ER group also scored significantly higher than the IR group on
comprehension measures post-treatment, where there were no significant differences pretreatment. These results constitute a fairly strong case that extensive reading helped improve
reading fluency to a greater extent than did intensive reading. Drawbacks in this study are typical
of those found in extensive reading studies using intact classes. Time-on-task was nearly double
for the ER group, so the reading rate gains may be due simply to increased time spent reading
rather than the pedagogical approach itself. Another drawback related to the use of intact classes
is that the students were taking a total of six English courses concurrently; therefore, their
fluency gains may not have come from the extensive reading course alone. A final drawback is
that the students in the ER group were reading from a library of authentic fiction written for L1
teenagers rather than graded readers written for L2 learners, so it is likely that they did not meet
the conditions required for fluency development to occur (see Nation, 2009).
Bell (2001) looked at extensive reading vs. intensive reading methodology with young adult EFL
learners in Yemen, reporting changes in reading speed and reading comprehension over one year.
Time-on-task was equivalent for the two groups, and the reported results are quite impressive
indeed. The IR group’s rate increased from 78.45 wpm to 92.54 wpm, while the ER group
increased from 68.10 wpm to 127.53 wpm, both of these gains being statistically significant and
the post-treatment difference between the two groups also being significant. The ER group also
made higher comprehension improvement than the IR group. Drawbacks of this study include
the small number of participants (N = 26) and the fact that the amount of text actually read by the
students in the study was not reported. A much bigger drawback, however, is the fact that student
comprehension of the text used for the reading rate measure itself was apparently not checked.
This means that the impressive reading rate gains seen by both groups in this experiment may
indeed have come at the expense of comprehension, a danger the author himself warns about
multiple times in the article.
Taguchi, Takayasu-Maass, and Gorsuch (2004) researched the effects of assisted repeated
reading versus extensive reading during a one-semester course on reading rate and
comprehension of Japanese university students (N = 20). They reported a decrease in reading rate
for both groups after the treatment, but it should be noted that the ER group read only 205 pages
during the semester, the pre-treatment and post-treatment measures of reading rate were not
equivalent, and that the books were likely well-above the level required for fluency development
(comprehension scores were 1.90/16 on the pretest and 4.50/16 on the posttest). For these
reasons, this study may have been limited in its ability to reveal reading fluency gains that may
result from semester- and year-long extensive reading programs which involve a greater amount
of reading and texts that are more closely matched to students’ reading ability levels.
Beglar, Hunt, and Kite (2012) recently conducted what is perhaps the strongest study to date
investigating the effect of reading extensively on fluency development. The participants were
first-year Japanese university students (N = 97), consisting of an IR group and three treatment
groups engaging in various amounts of pleasure reading during a one-year program. The IR
group made negligible reading rate gains, while the pleasure reading groups (PR groups) ranged
from gains of 8.02 wpm (89.71 wpm pre-treatment to 97.73 wpm post-treatment) to 16.85 wpm
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(103.9 wpm to 119.93 wpm). These results were in line with the amount of reading done by the
different PR groups, and the gains came without any accompanying decrease in comprehension
of the passages. The reason this program was termed “pleasure reading” rather than extensive
reading is that students were provided with and permitted to read authentic (written for native
speakers) novels in addition to graded readers (written for L2 readers). However, the authors
provide a clear analysis of the correlation between authentic novel reading and graded reader
reading and reading rate gains, finding that reading the L2-targeted graded readers resulted in
greater rate gains. A minor limitation of this study, identified as such by the authors themselves,
is that reading rate was measured in a slightly inaccurate way, by writing the elapsed time in 10second increments on a whiteboard and having students look up and record their time when they
finished reading the text. Overall, however, this study represents a strong improvement on
previous studies and will hopefully be used as a model and a springboard for further studies on
fluency improvement through extensive reading in a variety of EFL settings.
The current body of research remains severely lacking. There is still a dearth of empirical
support for the claim that extensive reading results in fluency improvement. The reason for this
gap in the research may be that the connection between extensive reading and reading fluency
seems more obvious than with other areas such as vocabulary or comprehension, perhaps
because the connection between practice and automaticity is already well-established in L1
reading research (Kuhn & Stahl, 2003; LaBerge & Samuels, 1974; Nathan & Stanovich, 1991).
However, given the fact that teachers and institutions in EFL contexts continue to show a great
deal of resistance toward implementing strong extensive reading programs (Grabe, 2009), there
is a salient need for further empirical studies in this area.
Purpose and Hypotheses
The current study is intended to build on the small body of existing research while avoiding
some of the pitfalls encountered in previous studies. Given the likelihood that long-term
extensive reading improves reading fluency and the lack of strong empirical support for this
claim, the purpose of this study is to assess the effect of extensive reading vis-à-vis intensive
reading on the reading fluency improvement of first-year college students in Japan. The a priori
hypotheses to be investigated are as follows:
1. Reading rate gains will be significantly greater for students in a one-semester college
extensive reading course than those in an intensive reading course.
2. Greater amounts of reading will yield significantly greater reading rate gains for students in
the extensive reading course.
Both of these hypotheses, if confirmed, would support the assumptions evident in the literature
on extensive reading and reading fluency outlined in the previous sections, and they would also
provide additional support for the results found in the few empirical studies that have been
conducted, particularly the finding in Beglar, Hunt, and Kite (2012) that reading fluency gains
are greater with extensive reading than intensive reading and that there is a positive relationship
between amount read and fluency gains.
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Method
Participants
The participants were 66 female first-year students (19–20 years old) at a private, 4-year nursing
college in Japan. They formally studied English approximately 5–6 hours per week in an EFL
environment during their six years of secondary education. The study was carried out during the
students’ first semester of college, during which they were enrolled in two required English
courses, each meeting for 90 minutes per week for 15 weeks. The treatment group consisted of
34 students who were enrolled in an extensive reading course and a writing course (the ER
group). The comparison group consisted of 32 students who were enrolled in an intensive
reading course and an oral communication course (the IR group). On a pre-course questionnaire,
eight (24%) of the students in the ER group and six (19%) in the IR group reported previous
experience in an extensive reading course or program (defined on the questionnaire as “reading
texts or books that are at an easy level for you, but reading a lot of them over a long period of
time, such as 1 book per week for a semester or a year.”) A standardized measure of the
participants’ overall English proficiency was unavailable, but the ER group had a mean
vocabulary size of 3,312 words as measured by Nation and Beglar’s (2007) Vocabulary Size
Test (These data were not obtained from the IR group).
Study Design
These data were gathered as part of the regular coursework of intact classes, so the design of this
study is quasi-experimental. However, assignment to the classes was alphabetical and therefore
effectively random, and the courses were planned and the data gathered with this study in mind,
so the results should be generalizable to similar contexts. The duration of the study was one 15week semester. The ER group (treatment group) consisted of students in two extensive reading
classes (17 and 17), and the IR group (comparison group) consisted of students in two intensive
reading classes (16 and 16). All students completed a pre- and post-course reading rate and
comprehension test, and the ER group also completed the Vocabulary Size Test (Nation &
Beglar, 2007) at the beginning of the semester. The number of words read by each group during
the semester was calculated using “standard words” (Carver, 1982), in which each 6-character
unit is counted as a word, and spaces and punctuation are also counted as characters. The length
of different books and the number of words on a page varies significantly, and this variation is of
particular concern when books written at different levels are being compared, and even more so
when comparing authentic texts with texts written at an easy level for L2 learners. For this
reason, standard words are a more accurate unit of measurement. The use of standard words also
allows for more accurate comparisons of results across studies (Beglar, Hunt, & Kite, 2012).
The research project was explained to the students, orally in English and in written format in
Japanese. Students were given the opportunity to anonymously request that their data not be used
in the analysis, and the names of the students in the data set were replaced with random
numerical codes by a third party researcher before the analysis was conducted. Authorization for
this study was obtained from the research ethics committee of the college.
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Intensive Reading Group
The 32 students in the IR group read a selection of stories from Chicken Soup for the Nurse’s
Soul (Canfield, Hansen, Mitchel-Autio, & Thieman, 2001). All students in the IR group read the
same amount of text, estimated at 9,682 standard words, or 32.6 pages. To arrive at this number,
three randomly selected full pages were counted and averaged, and this was multiplied by the
total number of full pages read, counted at the quarter-page sensitivity level. The total number
was then doubled to reflect the fact that the IR students read each assigned excerpt twice, once
for homework and once while going over the text during class. There is no way to guarantee that
all of the students actually read all of the assigned text every week. However, the course
instructor attested that the students participated actively in the class discussions of the meaning
of the text (described below), and that this participation demonstrated that they were familiar
with the content. Furthermore, the students knew that they would have a final exam covering the
content of the text in detail, and that failure on the exam would result in having to retake the
course. Thus the students had a high degree of motivation to actually read the text as assigned.
Text readability was at Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level 8.0 (U.S. eighth grade reading level), as
estimated by randomly sampling 5 pages out of the 33 pages read. This is a far higher level than
both the texts read by the ER group (ranging from Flesch-Kincaid Grade 1.1 through 3.9) and the
texts used in the reading rate tests (ranging from Flesch-Kincaid Grade 3.6 through 4.4).
The IR group’s course was taught by a veteran Japanese English professor. Each week, all the
students in the IR group were assigned to read a passage for homework, while one small group
(3–4 students) was assigned to translate that passage into Japanese thoroughly. On a post-course
questionnaire, students in this course reported that they had spent an average of 2.44 hours (SD =
1.38) per week on their reading. In class, the small group presented their translation to the class
orally and led a class discussion about the meaning of the text as well as any translation
difficulties they had encountered. The instructor participated in this discussion and offered
corrections and additional comments where the students’ explanations and translations were
lacking. There was also a 15-minute vocabulary quiz each week.
Extensive Reading Group
The 34 students in the ER group read from an in-class library of 237 graded readers from the
Macmillan Readers series (75 titles, Levels 2-6), the Oxford Bookworms series (89 titles, Levels
1-6), and the Cambridge English Readers series (73 titles, Levels 1-6). According to the
publishers, these books are written using a controlled set of vocabulary ranging from 400 to
3,800 headwords. According to Beglar, Hunt, and Kite (2012), Flesch-Kincaid readability for the
Oxford readers ranges from Grade Level 1.1 through 3.9.
In order to establish exactly how much reading the students in the ER group did, estimated
standard word counts were calculated. The mean amount read by the ER group was 80,201.74
(SD = 29,747.75) standard words. The students read an average of 545.85 pages, or 10.97 books.
The number of standard words was calculated by first estimating the number of standard words
per full page of a book from each level of each publisher. Three full pages were randomly
selected from each of these books, and standard words were counted and averaged. Then, the
number of full pages in each book that each student read was counted at the quarter-page
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sensitivity level. Then, for each book that each student read, the estimated full-page standard
word count for that level/publisher was multiplied by the actual number of full pages in that book.
Students were encouraged to borrow and return books freely throughout the semester. The goals
and benefits of extensive reading were clearly explained, and students were encouraged to read
books at or below their current reading level, so that there were few words in the text which they
did not already know. As a general guide, they were encouraged to consider choosing an easier
level if there were more than five or so words they did not know per page. The students were
also strongly encouraged to find books that interested them, using the cover illustration/photo,
title, back-cover blurb, and reading a page or two before choosing each book. Students were also
told to stop reading a book and try a different one if they felt it was boring or too difficult. Most
students started in the lower three levels, and some moved up to Levels 4 and 5 later in the
semester while others stayed at the lower levels. Students were instructed to avoid using
dictionaries except when absolutely necessary to understand a word that seemed important for
understanding the story. They demonstrated their knowledge of the philosophy, goals, and
benefits of extensive reading on an end-of-term test.
Students in the ER group spent class time engaging in book familiarization activities such as a
poster contest and communicative activities designed to get them to talk to each other about the
books they had read. They also had a 30-minute journal activity for most sessions, during which
they got into pairs, summarized a book for each other orally, and then produced a written
summary of their partner’s book. They also did a series of six timed readings in addition to the
pre- and post-course reading rate measures. Finally, they engaged in at least 30 minutes of
sustained silent reading at the end of each session, during which they were allowed to choose and
return books, read silently, or write book reports. On a post-course questionnaire, the students
reported that they spent an average of 3.59 hours (SD = 1.79) per week reading. It is presumed
that approximately 30 minutes of this was during the in-class silent reading time.
At the beginning of the semester, students were told that they would be evaluated primarily on
the number of pages they read, and that they needed to submit a book report to show that they
had read each book. The amount read was evaluated on a sliding scale from 400 pages (passing)
up to 800 or more pages (highest possible grade). The book report form required students to
provide a variety of information about the story, most notably a 50–100 word summary of the
plot including all the important points of the story, as well as a few sentences describing their
thoughts and feelings about the story. The summary was evaluated carefully by the instructor,
and summaries that did not include most of the main points of the story or that were not written
in comprehensible English or that included major inaccuracies were returned to the students as
“rewrites.” For rewrites, credit for having read the book was withheld until the student rewrote
the report to the instructor’s satisfaction.
Instruments
Reading Rate Test. A selection of three texts from Speed Reading (Quinn & Nation, 1974) was
administered as a pretest to all participants during the second class session, and a selection of
three different texts from the same book was administered as a posttest during the second to last
class session. Different texts were used for the pretest and posttest because reading fluency is
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likely to be particularly sensitive to the practice effect. Having already read a particular text is
likely to make it easier to read the second time around, even after a 12-week period. Each text
was 550 words long (total length in standard words: 1,444.17 pretest; 1,489.34 posttest) and the
texts were written using a vocabulary of 660 of the most frequent words in English, according to
the authors. On the back of each text were ten comprehension questions, the purpose of which
was to ensure that students were actually reading and comprehending the passages and, more
importantly, to ensure that reading speed gains did not come at the cost of comprehension. The
Rasch item reliability estimate for the comprehension questions was .76.
In order to mitigate the internal validity issue raised by using differing pretests and posttests, the
texts used in the pretests and posttests were carefully selected so that the readability was nearly
identical. Flesch-Kincaid grade levels for the pretest texts were 3.6, 3.9, and 4.4, and for the
posttest were 3.7, 3.9, and 4.4. In terms of readability, this places the reading rate texts near the
top of the range of the graded readers, but the high comprehension scores of the students indicate
that the texts were well within their capability. The texts were selected in part because they were
primarily non-fiction expository texts, rather than narrative fiction, as in the graded readers. If
narrative fiction texts had been used, it could have been argued that the reading rate gains were
only applicable to that genre, whereas using a different genre increases the likelihood that
reading rate gains represent true gains in the students’ core reading rate, because they transfer to
a different genre.
A practice reading rate test consisting of one text was administered one week before the actual
test in order to familiarize students with the procedure. The actual test consisted of a cover sheet
outlining the procedure, then a double-sided sheet with the first text on the front and ten
multiple-choice comprehension questions on the back, a blank sheet of paper, then the second
text and questions, another blank sheet, and finally the third text and questions. Students were
instructed to start reading upon the instructor’s signal, read as quickly as possible while
maintaining comprehension, then record their time at the bottom of the sheet. A large stopwatch
was displayed at the front of the classroom. Upon recording their time, students turned the sheet
over and answered the comprehension questions without referring to the text. Upon finishing the
questions, students put their pens down and waited, not proceeding to the next text. The
instructor monitored the students carefully to ensure that they did not refer back to the text nor
proceed to the next text, and the blank page ensured that they could not see the next text. When
all students were finished, the instructor signaled them to start the next text, and the procedure
was repeated for the second and third texts. The posttest was administered in the same fashion,
without the warm-up test.
Vocabulary Size Test. A 50-item version of the Vocabulary Size Test (Nation & Beglar, 2007)
was administered to the ER group during the third class session in order to confirm that the
students had sufficient vocabulary knowledge to read the graded readers and timed reading
passages. In order to reduce the time required to administer the test, a version of the test covering
only the 1st through 5th 1,000 word families was administered. The test consisted of 10 words
per each 1,000 word frequency level, and it had a Rasch item reliability estimate of .87.
Pre- and Post-Course Questionnaires. Pre- and post-course questionnaires were administered to
gain insight into the students’ experiences with and feelings toward reading in English. Because
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Huffman: Reading rate gains
27
this study dealt solely with fluency improvement and did not delve into the area of attitude and
motivation, for the most part the results of these questionnaires are not reported here. However,
one item on the post-course questionnaire asked students to estimate from memory the number of
hours per week they spent reading in English during the semester, and this data is reported as a
self-reported measure of time-on-task. Additionally, the information on students’ previous
experience with extensive reading, as reported in the Participants section above, was obtained
from the pre-course questionnaire.
Results
Descriptive statistics for the results of the Vocabulary Size Test (extensive reading group only)
were inspected. The mean vocabulary size of the ER group was 3,312.12 (SD = 429.94),
indicating that the students likely had a sufficient vocabulary to read the graded readers (400–
3,800 headwords) and the reading rate passages (660 headwords).
As a measure of time-on-task, descriptive statistics for the amount of time spent reading, as selfreported on the post-course questionnaire, were inspected. The mean number of hours per week
spent reading was 3.59 (SD = 1.79) for the ER group and 2.44 (SD = 1.38) for the IR group.
Results for Hypothesis 1
Hypothesis 1 stated that reading rate gains will be significantly greater for students in the ER
group than those in the IR group. In order to evaluate this hypothesis, the descriptive statistics
were inspected and an independent samples t test was conducted with group (ER group and IR
group) as the independent variable and reading rate gain scores as the dependent variable. Table
1 shows the pre- and post-course reading rates for the ER and IR groups, as well as the reading
rate gains. The ER group had a mean reading rate increase of 20.73 standard words per minute
(SD = 15.22), while the IR group had a mean decrease of .62 standard words per minute (SD =
13.72). Because two separate t tests were conducted in this study, a Bonferroni correction was
made to ensure that the cumulative Type I error rate was below .05. The criterion for statistical
significance was therefore set at .025. The independent samples t test was significant, t(64) =
5.97, p = .000. The eta squared index indicated that 36% of the variance of the reading rate gain
variable was accounted for by whether a student was in the ER or IR group. These results
unequivocally support the hypothesis.
Table 1. Pretest and posttest reading rates, ER and IR groups (standard words per minute)
M
SE
95% CI lower
95% CI upper
SD
ER pretest
ER posttest
110.59
3.93
102.60
118.58
22.90
131.33
4.32
122.54
140.12
25.17
ER Gain
20.73
2.61
15.42
26.04
15.22
IR pretest
103.76
2.96
97.73
109.79
16.73
IR posttest
103.14
3.10
96.82
109.46
17.54
IR Gain
-0.62
2.43
-5.57
4.33
13.72
To confirm that any reading rate increase was not accompanied by a decrease in comprehension,
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Huffman: Reading rate gains
28
the descriptive statistics of the comprehension scores were inspected and paired samples t tests
were conducted on the pre and posttest comprehension scores of each group separately. Table 2
shows the pre and posttest comprehension scores on the reading rate test (the average score of a
set of three 10-item tests) for the ER and IR groups. The ER group had a mean comprehension
score decrease of .30 (SD = .92), while the IR group also had a mean decrease of .27 (SD = .76).
A paired samples t test was conducted on the change in comprehension scores for the ER group,
t(33) = 1.90, p = .067, and the IR group, t(31) = 2.00, p = .054. These results show that the
comprehension score changes for both groups were not significant.
Table 2. Pretest and posttest comprehension scores, ER and IR groups (average score of three 10item tests)
M
SE
95% CI lower
95% CI upper
SD
ER pretest
ER posttest
ER change
IR pre
IR post
IR change
8.63
0.14
8.36
8.91
0.79
8.33
0.21
7.90
8.76
1.24
-0.30
0.16
-0.62
0.02
0.92
9.01
0.11
8.79
9.23
0.62
8.74
0.15
8.43
9.05
0.85
-0.27
0.14
-0.55
0
0.76
Results for Hypothesis 2
Hypothesis 2 stated that greater amounts of reading will yield significantly greater reading rate
gains for students in the ER group. In order to test this hypothesis a Pearson correlation
coefficient between amount read and reading rate gain for the ER group only was calculated. The
correlation was a very low .057 and was non-significant.
Discussion
This study provides solid empirical data supporting the effectiveness of extensive reading over
intensive reading for reading fluency development. The reading rate gain achieved by the ER
group in this one-semester course (20.73 wpm) was similar to that achieved by the highestperforming pleasure reading group (16.85 wpm) in the year-long study by Beglar, Hunt, and Kite
(2012). One possible reason for this difference is that the students in this study read only easy
graded readers written for L2 learners, while those in the Beglar, Hunt, and Kite study read a
combination of L2-targeted and authentic material. Another, perhaps even more influential factor
accounting for the more rapid gains in this study is the fact that students in this study engaged in
timed reading activities during class time throughout the semester and were regularly encouraged
to work on increasing their reading speed. It is likely that these timed readings resulted in a
stronger reading rate increase than would be seen in an extensive reading course without such
activities.
The students in the ER group in this study were able to improve their reading speed from 110.59
wpm to 131.33 wpm in one semester. If one accepts Higgins and Wallace’s (1989) 180 wpm
threshold as a reasonable goal for tertiary reading instruction in an EFL setting, this represents a
substantial increase. By extrapolation, the threshold would be surpassed by the average student
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Huffman: Reading rate gains
29
after four semesters of extensive reading.
Unfortunately, the hypothesis that students within the ER group who read more would
experience higher rate gains was not supported by the data in this study, a finding that is
disappointing but consistent with previous research (see Beglar, Hunt, & Kite, 2012). This may
be due to individual differences, in that some students require less input to increase their reading
rate than others. It might be that some high-performing readers have already hit a reading rate
ceiling before entering the course and that low-performing readers gain more from the extensive
reading approach, but further research is needed to clarify this. Whatever the reason, these results
seem to indicate that while individual differences in the amount read do not have a great effect
on reading rate improvement, the instructional approach of extensive reading does have a large
and significant effect when compared with intensive reading.
Limitations
The results of this study should be viewed in light of its limitations, the most obvious of which is
the fact that intact classes were used rather than setting up truly experimental conditions. Also,
the students in the two groups were simultaneously enrolled in two different additional courses,
writing and oral communication. The instruction received in these courses may have affected the
results of this study.
A second, and again rather serious, limitation is that the pre-course and post-course reading rate
measurements were conducted using different texts. This was done because reading fluency is
likely to be particularly sensitive to the effect of having read the same passage previously.
However, this has the adverse effect of making the comparison of pre-course to post-course
reading rate highly suspect. It should be noted however, that the texts were part of the same
timed reading series which used a pre-decided set of headwords and strict simplification rules,
and they were matched for readability levels.
A third limitation is that while the comprehension scores on the timed readings used in this study
fulfilled their purpose in showing that comprehension was not sacrificed for reading rate gains,
they were quite high overall and did not show any increase in comprehension either. It is
possible that there was a ceiling effect, and that slightly more difficult questions would have
allowed the ER group to demonstrate comprehension gains in line with their rate gains. This
would provide further support for the idea that comprehension improves with fluency (Breznitz,
1988; De Soto & De Soto, 1983; Nathan & Stanovich, 1991).
A final limitation is that the students in the ER group spent considerably more time reading
during the semester than the intensive reading students, based on their self-reported data. It is
possible and even likely, therefore, that the reading rate gains achieved by the ER group are due
not only to the difference between the extensive and intensive reading approaches themselves,
but also to the additional time the ER group students spent reading during the semester. From an
experimental standpoint it would be ideal to control time on task, but from a pedagogical
standpoint it can be argued that this difference in time spent reading is in itself an argument in
favor of the effectiveness of extensive reading. It is also difficult to justify placing artificial
limits on the time students spend reading for the purpose of an experiment.
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Huffman: Reading rate gains
30
Conclusion
This study provides strong empirical support for the claim that extensive reading yields
substantial improvements in reading fluency in first-year students at a nursing college in Japan.
There have been few previous studies providing convincing evidence for the effect of the
extensive reading approach on fluency development, so the results of this study represent a
substantial finding in the field of L2 reading. In terms of methodology as well, this study
advances this area of research by employing Carver’s (1982) standardized method of quantifying
text, by using exact time measurements when calculating reading rate, and by using texts and
tests that were matched to students’ reading ability level. It is hoped that the body of research in
this area will continue to develop so that these findings can be confirmed and so that a more
precise picture of how reading fluency develops in learners of EFL can be obtained.
Future Research
As mentioned previously, reading fluency development through extensive reading in EFL or
ESL contexts is still an area of inquiry that is seriously lacking, so this study raises a number of
questions that would benefit from both quantitative and qualitative investigation:
(a) Which factors within an extensive reading course or program are more or less responsible for
the improvement in reading fluency? Possible candidates would be amount read, the absence
or presence of possibly demotivating activities such as book reports or tests, control of level
placement by the teacher, and engaging in timed reading or other activities designed to push
students to increase their reading speed.
(b) At what point or points within a semester- or year-long course do the students experience the
greatest gains in their reading rate? This could be explored by measuring reading rate
periodically rather than just at the beginning and end of the course.
(c) Is measuring reading rate while ensuring maintenance of comprehension the best way to
measure fluency development? It is possible that some students achieve rate gains without
gaining true fluency in terms of chunking and automatization of reading processes and
subskills, so qualitative methods need to be developed in order to get a more complete
picture of fluency development.
(d) To what degree do reading fluency gains from reading easy, L2-targeted novels in an
extensive reading course transfer to other genres and particularly to the reading of authentic
texts?
(e) Studies focusing on fluency development through different reading approaches need to
include measures of both reading rate and reading comprehension in order to get a more
comprehensive look at the development of reading ability that occurs.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank David Beglar of Temple University for his helpful advice and
encouragement throughout this project, as well as for reading, editing, and commenting on an
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Huffman: Reading rate gains
31
earlier version of the manuscript. I also thank the two anonymous reviewers for their valuable
comments. I wish to thank Haruko Hishida of St. Luke’s College of Nursing for her assistance in
collecting the data used in this study as well as for her support and encouragement. I would also
like to thank Kumiko Ohashi of St. Luke’s College of Nursing (now St. Luke’s International
University, College of Nursing) for her assistance. Finally, I thank the students who allowed me
to use their data in this study.
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About the Author
Jeffrey Huffman is an assistant professor of English at St. Luke’s International University,
College of Nursing in Tokyo, Japan and a part-time lecturer at Waseda University’s School of
Political Science and Economics. He holds an M.S.Ed. in TESOL and is currently working on a
Ph.D. in Education (Applied Linguistics), both from Temple University. His research interests
are EFL reading and listening, second language testing, vocabulary acquisition, and English for
specific purposes. E-mail: [email protected]
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